William S. Burroughs

William S. Burroughs (1914-1997), artist and writer, had a profound influence on the arts of his generation.

Burroughs, with Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac, was a major figure in the Beat movement beginning in the 1940s. His experimental, hallucinogenic and free-flowing prose was concerned with unconventional and anti-establishment subject matter. His many novels include Junkie, Naked Lunch, Cities of the Red Night and Speed, among hundreds of essays, articles, screenplays and other literary forms. He also collaborated with visual artists, among them George Condo and David Bradshaw.

Untitled: A Suite of Five Prints

For Graphicstudio, Burroughs created a series of etchings of gestural, expressionistic marks on copper plates. Printed in differing color combinations on Gampi collé, they are at once hip and elegant.

Propagation Hazard

Burroughs's collaboration with David Bradshaw produced Propagation Hazard, a folio book of images and text, based on their mutual interest in the western hero, sharpshooting and explosives.